John Phillips

The mastermind behind the Mamas and the Papas, one of the most popular music groups of the late 1960s, John Phillips was a singer-songwriter-producer whose early hits, marked by golden harmonies and l...
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Zoe Saldana, America Ferrera, Eva Longoria and Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson are among the famous friends who have paid tribute to actress Elizabeth Pena following her death this week (beg13Oct14). The 55 year old passed away at a hospital in Los Angeles on Tuesday (14Oct14), and the tragedy has prompted an outpouring of grief among the acting community.
Pena played Sofia Vergara's onscreen mother in hit U.S. TV show Modern Family, and her co-star Ferguson mourned her loss in a post on Twitter.com, writing, "The entire cast and crew are very sad to say goodbye to one of our Modern Family members. RIP to the beautiful & talented #ElizabethPena."
Star Trek actress Saldana writes, "My heart is broken!!! My prayers are with you and your family. We will miss you #ElizabethPena."
Ugly Betty star Ferrera adds, "Heartbroken to hear the news of Elizabeth Pena's death. She was such a light. So glad I knew her. So sad she's gone," while actress Debra Messing offers, "I am stunned and heartbroken, just found out about the passing of my friend Elizabeth Pena. She was such a life force it's hard to believe."
Eva Longoria, who admits she is a big of Pena's work, writes, "RIP Elizabeth Pena. I was a fan since the days of I Married Dora & loved her in Jacob's Ladder & more recently Matador/Modern Family," and Longoria's former desperate Housewives co-star Dana Delany adds, "Aw...damn. Elizabeth Pena was a wonderful actress and even lovelier person. My thoughts are with her family."
Other tributes have come in from Gilles Marini, George Lopez , Lou Diamond Phillips, Robert Rodriguez, Frances Fish, Martha Plimpton and John Leguizamo.

Actor John Stamos has poured his heart out in a tribute to his late mother following her death on Monday (22Sep14). The beloved U.S. TV star took to Instagram.com on Tuesday (23Sep14) to share the sad news with fans, revealing his mum, Loretta Phillips Stamos, was surrounded by her children and grandchildren when she passed away, aged 75.
The Full House star wrote, "The love of my life passed away yesterday... My mother had enough love to fuel a small country. She was truly one of a kind and will live forever in the hearts of all who knew her."
Stamos also posted a photo of himself as a child with his mother, and added, "A few weeks ago, I asked my mom if she remembered an inconsequential event - she simply replied, 'I only remember the love.' #Brokenhearted."

Actor Bradley Cooper is set to produce a film about a real-life 1980s Nevada casino extortion plot. The American Hustle star has teamed up with filmmaker/actor Todd Phillips to develop the movie based on Adam Higginbotham's article A Thousand Pounds of Dynamite, according to TheWrap.com.
The film will centre on law enforcement officials' attempts to disarm a bomb found underneath the Harvey's Wagon Wheel Casino in 1980.
The explosive device was eventually detonated by authorities at the US. Federal Bureau of Investigation, but no injuries occurred because the building had already been cleared out.
California landscaper John Birges was found guilty of placing the bomb and planning the $3 million (£1.8 million) extortion plot and was sentenced to life in prison.
He died of liver cancer in 1996.

Lionsgate
Robin Williams is one of the funniest people on the planet. His dizzying rapid-fire delivery style and stream of consciousness rants have been wowing live audiences for nearly 40 years. He's found kindred spirits in fellow performers as diverse as Jonathan Winters, John Belushi, and Billy Crystal… delighting in their ability to play his comedic games at his own high level. Why is it, then, that Williams seems to have so much trouble being funny in movies? Go ahead and think about the last time that you really laughed hard at one of his films. It's okay, we'll wait.
Well, There Was That One…
The go-to answer for a lot of people is Mrs. Doubtfire, which was released 21 years ago and boasts as many melodramatic moments as it does comedic ones. The same is true for two of the actor's other '90s hits, Jumanji and The Birdcage. When Williams goes the straight comedy route in films like Old Dogs, RV, or Club Paradise, the result is never in line with his talent and abilities. The fact is that Williams' funniest cinematic role was probably one where we never actually saw him: as the Genie in Disney's Aladdin.
Flair for the Dramatic
With The Angriest Man in Brooklyn being released, in which Williams plays a bitter borough resident who finds out that he only has 90 minutes to live, the discrepancy is being reinforced once again. Williams is far better — and garners far more acclaim — when he's putting his Julliard training to use on the dramatic side. He notched Oscar nominations for his roles in The Fisher King, Good Morning, Vietnam and Dead Poets Society, and took home the award for Best Supporting Actor for Good Will Hunting. He's won acclaim for darker roles in projects like One Hour Photo and Insomnia, as well.
In many of his dramatic roles, Williams has a unique ability to add funny moments admidst the seriousness… like his D.J. patter in Good Morning, Vietnam. In actuality, that's what makes him appealing as a dramatic actor… his panache for showing a glimpse of Comedy while wearing Tragedy.
Calling Mork
Perhaps we're just being selfish in wishing that Williams would find a film role that would unleash his comedy id the way that Mork &amp; Mindy did during his early days on television, where it seemed as though he might in fact burst with energy.
He's not the only comedian that has had difficulty figuring out a way to channel a stage persona onto the big screen. Richard Pryor and George Carlin, two of the most influential stand-up comedians ever, both struggled to find roles that played to their strengths. Much like Williams, his idol Jonathan Winters slid between characters so quickly that a movie script was too confining.
From a comedy standpoint, Williams has always been at his best when he's free to go anywhere his muse takes him in a given moment and, with the exception of Aladdin, that's hard to capture in a film. Difficult as it may be, it's also not impossible. Two of Williams' contemporaries — Steve Martin and Bill Murray — have been able to shift between comedies and dramas effectively in their film careers.
It might be that he needs a filmmaker that isn't afraid of Williams and his scattershot approach to really showcase him properly in a movie. You get the feeling that Mel Brooks would've known what to do with Williams in his heyday, but there are still active directors like Todd Phillips and Seth MacFarlane that have proven to be unafraid of most anything.
It would just be a shame if future generations are strictly left with Williams' HBO concert specials to prove just how funny he can be.
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American Idol judges Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban and Harry Connick Jr. performed together for the first time during the U.S. talent show's star-studded season finale. The 13th season of the singing competition came to an end on Wednesday night (21May14) and to celebrate the crowning of a new winner, the trio, alongside former judge-turned-mentor Randy Jackson, joined forces to sing a medley, marking the first time in the show's history that all the judges took the stage to perform together.
With Connick Jr. on the piano, Urban on guitar, Jackson on bass, and Lopez providing vocals, the supergroup sang a mash-up of Cyndi Lauper's True Colors and Fleetwood Mac's Go Your Own Way. Earlier in the show, Lopez took the stage solo to perform her latest single, First Love.
The night was filled with other superstar performances, including sets from KISS, Demi Lovato, Paramore, John Legend, Jason Mraz, Lady Antebellum, Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles, Darius Rucker, Aloe Blacc, and season 11 winner Phillip Phillips, who all shared the stage with this season's finalists.
In another Idol first, host Ryan Seacrest showed off his vocal skills by belting out Richard Marx's hit Right Here Waiting, and was joined by Marx himself for a memorable duet.
Caleb Johnson, 23, who had previously auditioned for the programme twice before, was named this year's (14) American Idol, beating 17-year-old Jena Irene to the title.

Seventies rockers The Babys have reunited to record their first album in 30 years. The Isn't It Time and Midnight Rendezvous hitmakers have reformed with original lead guitarist Wally Stocker and drummer Tony Brock, and their comeback album, I'll Have Some of That, will be released on 24 June (14), while a new single, titled I See You There, is already available on iTunes.
Stocker says, "The whole premise is to keep The Babys alive and have a good time doing it."
He and Brock have been joined by new recruits John Bisaha and veteran rhythm guitarist Joey Sykes in the line-up, while keyboardist Francesco Saglietti will hit the road with the new line-up.
Brock adds, "John Bisaha is an incredible singer. When we held auditions, we had singers lined up around the block to join the band and John was head and shoulders above the rest."
Formed in London in 1974, The Babys were signed to Chrysalis Records and released five albums between 1977 and 1980. They toured with the likes of Journey, Alice Cooper and Cheap Trick and built up a loyal following.
They disbanded in December, 1980.
Former members John Waite, Jonathan Cain and Ricky Phillips have all given their blessing to the newest incarnation of the band.
Missing You singer Waite has found solo success, Cain is a current member of Journey and Phillips is a longtime bass player for Styx.

20th Century Fox via Everett Collection
In the era of the World Wide Web, the story for Home Alone would go something like this: young Kevin wakes up and realizes that his family is nowhere to be found. Wanting to make sure that they haven't disappeared, he grabs his iPad, checks Buzz's Twitter feed which says, "On the way to the airport. Can't wait to check out Paris babes!" Relieved, Kevin brings up FaceTime to contact his mother and let her know that he was left behind. She takes a cab back to the house, goes onto the airline's website to change their flight and the two of them fly out a short while later to enjoy Christmas. The end.
When British scientist Tim Berners-Lee drew up his proposal in 1989 for what would become the World Wide Web, he was just hoping to share information within the scientific community. Instead, 25 years later the Web has changed daily life for most people in ways that are too numerous to list. The rise of the Web also did something else that wasn't anticipated… it changed movies.
From a practical standpoint, the entertainment industry has taken full advantage of the Web. Every new movie release has a web presence for marketing purposes. Websites like Netflix and Amazon deliver streaming films. There are sites to tell you when movies are playing, that rate them, that show trailers and that sell movies. Thanks to Kickstarter, there are even websites that help finance productions.
What the Web has also done is changed the way that filmmakers have to tell their stories. Besides Home Alone, there are a variety of plot points that had to be abandoned once the Web became an omnipresent part of life. Sam's family in Sixteen Candles wouldn't have forgotten her birthday, because they all would've gotten Facebook reminders. Dr. Richard Kimble doesn’t have to go all over Chicago to find his wife's killer in The Fugitive; he just needs access to Google. Ferris Bueller would've been busted as soon as his parade antics went viral on YouTube. In Sleepless in Seattle, Jonah would've just brought up Annie's profile on the Baltimore Sun website and said "See, she's pretty!" Die Hard basically wouldn't have a plot left… same with My Cousin Vinny and numerous others.
Screenwriters and directors now have to account for the Web (and cell phones), when plotting out their stories. Want to update Romeo &amp; Juliet? Have fun trying to work around the leads not e-mailing, Skyping or texting. Want to remake The Usual Suspects? Better have an answer for why that picture of Keyser Soze isn't available on any law enforcement websites.
Anyone wishing to tell a story with farcical elements has to work harder than ever to create the ruse, because no part of it can hinge on information that is readily available on the Web. If the character could look it up on Wikipedia, it's kind of hard to explain why they wouldn't just do that.
While some have skirted the issue by finding the few corners of the world that technology hasn't reached — think Babel — a number of filmmakers have instead sought solace in the past. Whether it's Ben Affleck with Argo, David O. Russell with American Hustle, Quentin Tarantino with Django Unchained or J.J. Abrams with Super 8, big name directors are opting to tell stories from before the dawn of websites as a way around dealing with the issue. Of the nine Best Picture nominees this year, four were set before 1990… and two of the others took place in the middle of the ocean (Captain Phillips) and in space (Gravity).
Of course, one of the other nominees showed a different path that filmmakers can now explore to tell new and interesting stories. Spike Jonze's Her made technology a character all on its own. Instead of just altering the ways that filmmakers tell stories — and studios produce and market movies — maybe over the next 25 years of its existence the World Wide Web will become a movie star in its own right. Hey, it's not any more farfetched than the various John Hughes plot devices from the '80s that the Web has rendered obsolete.
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Oscar nominee Barkhad Abdi is reportedly in talks to star in his first major film since he confronted Tom Hanks as a Somali pirate in Captain Phillips. If Abdi signs on, he would join a cast that includes Amy Schumer, Bill Hader and Brie Larson in Judd Apatow's Trainwreck, according to Variety.com.
The casting news could not have come at a better time for the 28 year old, who recently opened up about the financial struggles he has faced since filming on Captain Phillips wrapped.
Tilda Swinton, Vanessa Bayer, John Cena, and Ezra Miller are also in negotiations to join the cast for the film, which is scheduled to hit cinemas in July, 2015.

Warner Bros via Everett Collection
Last week, we took a look at each of the awards circuits that have announced their winning picks for 2013, calculating just how good an indicator each one might be at predicting the Academy Awards top prize. Unsurprisingly, 12 Years a Slave and American Hustle were the most common titles to take awards from venues like the Golden Globes, New York Film Critics Circle, Critics Choice Awards, and others. With the organizations carrying a variety of insight, statistically speaking, into what will be the Oscars' big winner, we named 12 Years our Most Likely to Succeed at the 86th Annual Academy Awards... but that was before today's news. See, this morning gave us the winner of the Director's Guild of America Awards — historically, the best indicator of the Best Picture Oscar with a 90% consistency over the past 10 years and an 81% consistency overall — and it is third party candidate Gravity.
Alfonso Cuaron's blockbuster has snagged the DGA, putting it in the company of Argo, The Artist, The King's Speech, The Hurt Locker, and many other features that went on to win Best Picture. In fact, the last movie to take the DGA but lose out on the top Oscar would be Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain, a rarity as well for winning the Best Director Oscar but not Best Picture. Averaged with the precognitive capabilities of the Producers Guild of America (middling) and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (dismal) — in which Gravity tied as winner with 12 Years and Her, respectively — the space-set thriller is about even with Steve McQueen's slavery epic in its chances to take home the Oscar.
Of course, math can only take you so far (despite what they tried to drill into your heads in grade school). The separating factor, come Academy season, will be that indefinable quality that makes something an "Oscar movie." Not necessarily the best movie, but the one most palatable to the Academy's appetite. Gravity and 12 Years a Slave are both terrific films, but the latter has a few points on its side. Although they might share the DGA with Gravity, movies like Argo, The King's Speech, The Hurt Locker, Slumdog Millionaire, Million Dollar Baby, et al have far more in common with 12 Years a Slave: they're tales of history, adversity, injustice, human ugliness and human perseverence. Stories very much grounded on this Earth... something that Gravity, quite literally, might not be considered (at least by some).
But we applaud the DGA for recognizing Cuaron's movie, and its other deserving winners (with special notice for the finales of Breaking Bad and 30 Rock). Peruse the winners list below!
The Directors Guild of America Awards
Feature FilmWinner: GravityNominees: 12 Years a Slave, American Hustle, Captain Phillips, The Wolf of Wall Street
DocumentaryWinner: Cutie and the BoxerNominees: The Act of Killing, The Crash Wheel, The Square, Stories We Tell
Dramatic SeriesWinner: Breaking Bad: "Felina"Nominees: Breaking Bad: "Blood Money," Game of Thrones: "The Rains of Castamere," Homeland: "The Star," House of Cards: "Chapter 1"
Comedy SeriesWinner: 30 Rock: "Hogcock!/Last Lunch"Nominees: The Big Bang Theory: "The Hofstadter Insufficiency," The Big Bang Theory: "The Love Spell Potential," Modern Family: "My Hero," Modern Family: "The Old Man &amp; the Tree"
TV Movie/MiniseriesWinner: Behind the CandelabraNominees: Killing Kennedy, Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight, Phil Spector, The Sound of Music Live!
Variety/Talk/News/Sports ProgrammingWinner: Saturday Night Live: "Justin Timberlake"Nominees: The Colbert Report: "#10004," The Daily Show: "#19018," Jimmy Kimmel Live: "#13-1810," Late Night with Jimmy Fallon: "#799"
Variety/Talk/News/Sports SpecialWinner: The 67th Annual Tony AwardsNominees: 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, The 55th Annual Grammy Awards, The 85th Annual Academy Awards, Louis C.K.: Oh My God
Reality ProgramsWinner: 72 Hours: "The Lost Coast"Nominees: The Amazing Race: "Beards in the Wind," The Biggest Loser: "1501," The Hero: "Teamwork," Top Chef: "Glacial Gourmand"
Children's ProgramsWinner: An Apology to ElephantsNominees: A.N.T. Farm, Jinxed, Swindle, Teen Beach Movie
CommercialsWinner: Martin de Thurah (The Man Who Couldn’t Slow Down, Hennessy VS/Human Race, Acura MDX 2014)Nominees: Fredrik Bond (Voyage, Heineken; From The Future, Johnny Walker), John X. Carey (Real Beauty Sketches, Dove), Matthijs van Heijningen (Perfect Day, Sony Playstation; #Forty Eight, Verizon), Noam Murro (Basketball, Guinness; Kids, DIRECTV; Mask, Volkswagen)
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American Hustle, Gravity and 12 Years A Slave look set to dominate the 2014 Academy Awards. The movies will go head-to-head for Best Picture along with Captain Phillips, Nebraska, Philomena, Dallas Buyers Club, Her and The Wolf of Wall Street.
British stars Christian Bale (American Hustle) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years A Slave) both scored a mention for Best Actor, while American Hustle's Amy Adams will go head-to-head with Gravity's Sandra Bullock for Best Actress.
Other actresses nominated in the category are Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine), Judi Dench (Philomena) and Meryl Streep (August: Osage County).
Last year's (13) winner of the Best Actress trophy, Jennifer Lawrence, will compete for Best Supporting Actress for her role in American Hustle, while Bradley Cooper landed a Best Supporting Actor nod for his role in the crime caper.
12 Years A Slave co-stars Lupita Nyong'o and Michael Fassbender also picked up nods for their supporting roles, while the film's director Steve McQueen and American Hustle's David. O. Russell both landed nominations for Best Director along with Gravity's Alfonso Cuaron.
Speaking shortly after the nominations were announced, British moviemaker McQueen told the BBC, "(I am) just very excited - nine nominations. A lot of them (the Oscar nominees are) British. I am just so excited. We worked very hard and are very privileged to receive these nominations."
While O. Russell admits he is thrilled that all four of his film's main actors picked up nods, adding, "It's all four actors... you always worry as sort of the captain... that one of your great performers is not going to get recognised... they all put so much into it and they did it together so it's nice that none of them got left out."
American Hustle and Gravity both scored 10 nominations, while 12 Years A Slave landed nine.
The nominations were announced by actor Chris Hemsworth and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Cheryl Boone Isaacs on Thursday (16Jan14), and the winners will be unveiled during the Los Angeles prizegiving on 2 March (14).
The full list of nominees is as follows:
Best Picture:
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
Nebraska
Philomena
12 Years A Slave
The Wolf of Wall Street
Directing:
David O. Russell - American Hustle
Alfonso Cuaron - Gravity
Alexander Payne - Nebraska
Steve McQueen - 12 Years a Slave
Martin Scorsese - The Wolf of Wall Street
Actor in a Leading Role:
Christian Bale - American Hustle
Bruce Dern - Nebraska
Leonardo DiCaprio - The Wolf of Wall Street
Chiwetel Ejiofor - 12 Years a Slave
Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers Club
Actress in a Leading Role:
Amy Adams - American Hustle
Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock - Gravity
Judi Dench - Philomena
Meryl Streep - August: Osage County
Actor in a Supporting Role:
Barkhad Abdi - Captain Phillips
Bradley Cooper - American Hustle
Michael Fassbender - 12 Years A Slave
Jonah Hill - The Wolf of Wall Street
Jared Leto - Dallas Buyers Club
Actress in a Supporting Role:
Sally Hawkins - Blue Jasmine
Jennifer Lawrence - American Hustle
Lupita Nyong'o - 12 Years a Slave
Julia Roberts - August: Osage County
June Squibb - Nebraska
Adapted Screenplay:
Before Midnight - Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke
Captain Phillips - Billy Ray
Philomena - Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope
12 Years A Slave - John Ridley
The Wolf of Wall Street - Terence Winter
Original Screenplay:
American Hustle - Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell
Blue Jasmine - Woody Allen
Dallas Buyers Club - Craig Borten, Melisa Wallack
Her - Spike Jonze
Nebraska - Bob Nelson
Animated Feature Film:
The Croods
Despicable Me 2
Ernest & Celestine
Frozen
The Wind Rises
Cinematography:
The Grandmaster - Philippe Le Sourd
Gravity - Emmanuel Lubezki
Inside Llewyn Davis - Bruno Delbonnel
Nebraska - Phedon Papamichael
Prisoners - Roger A. Deakins
Costume Design:
American Hustle - Michael Wilkinson
The Grandmaster - William Chang Suk Ping
The Great Gatsby - Catherine Martin
The Invisible Woman - Michael O'Connor
12 Years A Slave - Patricia Norris
Documentary Feature:
The Act of Killing
Cutie and the Boxer
Dirty Wars
The Square
20 Feet from Stardom
Documentary Short Subject:
Cavedigger
Facing Fear
Karama Has No Walls
The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life
Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall
Film Editing:
American Hustle - Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers, Alan Baumgarten
Captain Phillips - Christopher Rouse
Dallas Buyers Club - John Mac McMurphy, Martin Pensa
Gravity - Alfonso Cuaron, Mark Sanger
12 Years A Slave - Joe Walker
Foreign Language Film:
The Broken Circle Breakdown
The Great Beauty
The Hunt
The Missing Picture
Omar
Makeup And Hairstyling:
Dallas Buyers Club
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa
The Lone Ranger
Music - Original Score:
The Book Thief
Gravity
Her
Philomena
Saving Mr. Banks
Music - Original Song:
Alone Yet Not Alone by Bruce Broughton and Dennis Spiegel, from Alone Yet Not Alone
Happy by Pharrell Williams, from Despicable Me 2
Let it Go by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, from Frozen
The Moon Song by Karen O, from Her
Ordinary Love by U2, from Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom
Production Design:
American Hustle
Gravity
The Great Gatsby
Her
12 Years A Slave
Sound Editing:
All Is Lost
Captain Phillips
Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Lone Survivor
Sound Mixing:
Captain Phillips
Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Inside Llewyn Davis
Lone Survivor
Visual Effects:
Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Iron Man 3
The Lone Ranger
Star Trek Into Darkness.

Title

Summary

The mastermind behind the Mamas and the Papas, one of the most popular music groups of the late 1960s, John Phillips was a singer-songwriter-producer whose early hits, marked by golden harmonies and lyrical sophistication, were largely undone by a life ruined by drug addiction. He emerged from the folk music scene of the early 1960s to partner with Canadian singer Denny Doherty, brassy New Yorker Cass Elliot and teenaged second wife Michelle Phillips to form the group that went on to earn chart-topping hits with the sun-dappled beauty of songs like "Monday, Monday" and "California Dreamin'." But their fresh-faced appeal hid an emotional tumult within the group that tore them apart by 1968. Phillips would dive headlong into addiction in the years that followed before a 1981 conviction for trafficking sent him into sobriety. He marked his final years by performing with new versions of the Mamas and Papas, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. After his death in 2001, Phillips became the focus of a gruesome accusation by his daughter, Mackenzie Phillips of "One Day at a Time" (CBS, 1975-1984) fame, who alleged that he had conducted an incestuous affair with her for years. The story was yet another black mark on a music career marked by incredible successes and the darkest of failures.